Where is She Now: Sue (Symanovich) Fournier (Witawentin 1969) and Anne Symanovich (Tiamalia 1968)
“I remember the magic of living close to nature. Embracing the wind and the rain.”
Came to Nyoda from: Connecticut. Our connection with Nyoda is through family. We are the grand-nieces of George Grimm, the attorney who assisted with the legal aspects of establishing the camp. His daughter (our aunt), Nancy Grimm Derkacz, was a camper, as was her daughter (our cousin), Anne Derkacz. Our mom, Olga Derkacz Symanovich, was invited to serve as camp nurse in 1962 and for several years thereafter. The three of us girls – Joan, Anne, and Susan – were campers.
Returning to Nyoda this summer from:
Sue: Watertown, Connecticut on a hilltop, where I work for the Red Cross. I help out in development, fundraising projects, blood drives, and volunteer tracking and training.
Anne: Oakland, California by an urban lake – not as beautiful as Wabansee, but has plenty of birds and boaters. I am retired from the investment business and the dot-com business. But I am still into Health and Love.
Memory of first summer at camp:
Sue: Watertown, Connecticut on a hilltop, where I work for the Red Cross. I help out in development, fundraising projects, blood drives, and volunteer tracking and training.
Anne: Oakland, California by an urban lake – not as beautiful as Wabansee, but has plenty of birds and boaters. I am retired from the investment business and the dot-com business. But I am still into Health and Love.
Returned because of: Friends. (Also the fact that mom was still the camp nurse.)
Sue: I returned for eight summers, including that first summer in the infirmary. I got as far as Witawentin.
Anne: Eleven. One in each bung and four as a canoeing counselor.
I returned for a total of 12 summers, including four on the counselor staff.
Favorite camp memory or things in life that bring out your Nyoda memories:
Sue: The smell of the campfire and the toasted marshmallows. Also watermelon – one can’t forget about having a watermelon seed fight only with the black seeds. The wind blowing and the rain beating down on the bung roofs.
Anne: Wind blowing through the trees. I used to listen to this as I lay in my top bunk at night.
On the experience of having sisters at camp:
Anne: We were each three years apart and consequently didn’t cross paths much. I was busy with my bung-mates and didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the campers more than one bung older or younger. So I would say that having my sisters at camp didn’t affect my experience.
Sue: My sister would keep an eye on me to make sure that I wore my glasses. Usually I would leave them in the bung since I hated the way that I looked wearing them.
Long-term impact of time spent at Nyoda:
Anne: I learned leadership and problem-solving. There were so many opportunities as both a camper and a counselor to have an idea and then rally others around to make it happen. Also, you gotta see my clothes closets. The garments hang in color order on coordinating hangers. I am ready for inspection!
Sue: At camp I gained important skills and confidence. (It took me until my Akanta year to get into the deep end, but now I am a strong swimmer.) I learned how to make friends. I am now comfortable opening up to strangers. Before Nyoda I worried that I would be alone and no one would want to be my friend, but after a while, I got to know my fellow campers and counselors. Saying “goodbye” made me very sad.
Wo-He-Lo elated goal:
Sue: I plan to keep up my volunteer efforts at sporting events. It’s fun to work with others, and I hope for more opportunities to meet the stars as I have been doing with golf (Lee Trevino) and skating (Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton).
Anne: Service. I serve on the board of the Midsummer Mozart Festival organization. Right in my own front yard is Lake Merritt (“…oh, there’s a lake in California with high-rises around it…”), which is a National Wildlife Refuge for migrating birds. It needs a lot of TLC from volunteers like me. After a long career as a figure skater, I now serve as a judge. This is similar to the responsibility I had as a counselor judging canoeing tests and helping award medals.